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From left, Amanda Gordon of Cloverhill Flowers, her mother, Debbie Gordon, and her daughter, Lucy, at their flower booth last year.

‘Everything we wanted is here,’ says returning resident

Amanda Gordon remembers spending a lot of time on the water while growing up in Keswick, even taking swimming lessons at a local beach. She moved home after graduating university and commuted to Toronto for a few years before moving downtown but never imagined returning to her hometown.

Today, that’s where she’s raising her family – and a few chickens – while renovating a century farmhouse and writing a lifestyle blog (www.lifeatcloverhill.comwww.lifeatcloverhill.com ). She also established Cloverhill Flowers, a specialty-cut flower business that uses sustainable farming practices and ensures Gordon is firmly entrenched in the local agriculture community.

“We realized everything we wanted is here,” she says of her and her husband’s search for a home after getting married. “There’s so much green space, it’s such an easy commute and we found a century farmhouse in the country…It still has a small-town feeling and though Keswick as changed a lot over the years, it provides new opportunities too,” Gordon says.

Keswick is located north of Toronto on Cook’s Bay, which is part of Lake Simcoe. It’s the largest and southernmost community in the Town of Georgina, which is also home to Sutton/Jackson’s Point, Pefferlaw and several lakefront communities and rural hamlets.

The municipality was considered cottage country for city folks until the late 1980s, when major development made the community increasingly accessible and gave its population a boost. Hwy. 404, located on Georgina’s southern border, provides direct access via the Don Valley Parkway to downtown Toronto in less than an hour.

The Hwy. 404 extension, which opened in 2014, makes the community even more accessible. It could also open up new employment opportunities, with 550 acres on the east side of Woodbine Avenue at the terminus of that extension earmarked for a business park that has the potential to create 6,500 to 7,500 new jobs.

The proposed Hwy. 400-404 connecting link, meanwhile, would provide an east-west connection between Bradford West Gwillimbury and East Gwillimbury. It would alleviate congestion across the Holland Marsh while also providing an alternative path from eastern Toronto and eastern Greater Toronto Area to Barrie and the rest of the Simcoe area.

Georgina’s population of 45,400 is projected to hit 70,000 by 2031, with the bulk of urban growth directed to Keswick. About 3,500 homes have been approved or proposed for Keswick over the next five years, Mayor Margaret Quirk reports. How quickly they’re built will depend on market conditions. good portion of development within the Sutton area will focus on residential opportunities for retirees and seniors.

“There’s such a huge opportunity for housing styles in Keswick and Georgina as a whole,” says Quirk. Options range from brand new subdivisions and older homes on larger lots in historic areas to hobby farms in rural areas and iving directly on the lake or one of three rivers.

A number of infrastructure projects are on the horizon, including construction of a new civic centre on the same campus as the current building in Keswick. The municipality is also firming up the location of its new multiuse recreation centre and is constructing a new fire hall. “We are trying to be forward planning and to make things multifunctional,” Quirk says.

Community events include an annual BBQFest. Created by local resident Forrest Jones, it raises money for several local charities. This year’s event, to be held July 18, features Twain, Beach Boys, Billy John/Elton John tribute bands, along with a beer garden, axe-throwing challenge, slo-pitch and volleyball tournaments, animal farm/petting zoo and car show.

Other community events include Snofest, Youth-a-Palooza, Canada Day, Sutton Fair and Splash Festival. The Uptown Keswick Harvest Festival, to be held Sept. 28, is an organic fall harvest with horse-drawn wagon rides, food trucks and live music.

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